‘A bit of a horror show’ was how Bexhill United manager Ryan Light described the football club’s heaviest defeat of the season.

The Pirates were beaten 5-1 away to third-placed Lingfield in Macron Store Southern Combination League Division One on Saturday - their fourth game in eight days.

Light said: “All in all it was a little bit of a horror show, especially second half. As good as they were on the ball, we made a mistake for every one of their goals through mental and physical fatigue.”

Bexhill actually started quite well. Wayne Giles got in behind Lingfield’s full-back and put a couple of crosses in, one of which resulted in Corey Wheeler firing over.

But Lingfield took the lead when the ball seemed to squirm through two challenges to Nicky Dembele on the left and he picked out the far corner with a fine finish.

Light said you could see Bexhill’s players were deflated by that and although they tried to keep possession as well as they could, they didn’t really create much.

Lingfield were quick on the break and Dembele made it 2-0 after Bexhill goalkeeper Dan Rose gave the ball away and Kyle Holden was then dispossessed 25 yards from his own goal.

The second half almost had the feel of a pre-season friendly as Lingfield stroked the ball around, mainly in Bexhill’s half, and it was all rather uncompetitive.

Lingfield went 3-0 up when Zack McEniry, who had switched to centre-back after Lewis McGuigan limped off with nothing more to give, lost the ball in the centre circle and it was slipped through for Sammy Clements to finish into the bottom corner.

Goals four and five came within a couple of minutes of each other, and both were scored by Chris Ransome. The fourth came after Connor Robertson and Craig Ottley gave the ball away, and Ransome then ran through so easily to score the fifth.

Bexhill at least did okay towards the end and Giles nabbed a consolation with a goal of the season contender. Playing his first 90 minutes for several months, Giles picked the ball up on the right and struck a shot which hit both posts on its way in.

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